Distinguished Member

Sounds promising - I had feared that this might be another Ghostbusters.

I'm all for a better diversity representation in leading roles but I do wish they would achieve this with originality rather than taking a film that had a predominantly male cast and replacing it with a predominantly female cast.

But it sounds like Ocean's 8 does have some virtue even if the idea is a copy so I will watch it this weekend.

Distinguished Member

The push for women in better/more/fairer roles is of course a good thing, however I wish this wasn’t done in these remakes. To me, it takes away the importance of the of the push/change. It’s like “hey here’s a cast of women who we think can’t handle a totally new new film” and “We can’t be bothered to write one, so here’s a fun twist!”
I dont see these remakes as the “bold move” that Hollywood thinks they are doing that empower women. It seems like Hollywood is still not taking it very seriously. All that happens is that these films take flack turning a male cast into female and we just ask “is that the best Hollywood can come up with?”

I not sure this changes anything about female leads/co-leads getting the same pay etc but at least this film appears to work far better than Ghostbusters did

Moderator

The push for women in better/more/fairer roles is of course a good thing, however I wish this wasn’t done in these remakes. To me, it takes away the importance of the of the push/change. It’s like “hey here’s a cast of women who we think can’t handle a totally new new film” and “We can’t be bothered to write one, so here’s a fun twist!”
I dont see these remakes as the “bold move” that Hollywood thinks they are doing that empower women. It seems like Hollywood is still not taking it very seriously. All that happens is that these films take flack turning a male cast into female and we just ask “is that the best Hollywood can come up with?”

I not sure this changes anything about female leads/co-leads getting the same pay etc but at least this film appears to work far better than Ghostbusters did

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Here one woman film that was not a remake and truly awesome one of the best films I seen this year and shows what can be done with an original script rather than shoe horning women into previous men's roles. I would have given Jessica Chastain an Oscar for it.Miss Sloane (2016) - IMDb

Active Member

The push for women in better/more/fairer roles is of course a good thing, however I wish this wasn’t done in these remakes. To me, it takes away the importance of the of the push/change. It’s like “hey here’s a cast of women who we think can’t handle a totally new new film” and “We can’t be bothered to write one, so here’s a fun twist!”
I dont see these remakes as the “bold move” that Hollywood thinks they are doing that empower women. It seems like Hollywood is still not taking it very seriously. All that happens is that these films take flack turning a male cast into female and we just ask “is that the best Hollywood can come up with?”

I not sure this changes anything about female leads/co-leads getting the same pay etc but at least this film appears to work far better than Ghostbusters did

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I understand your point, but I think it's missing something key...

There is Coke, then there is Diet Coke, Cherry Coke, Coke Zero, etc... These movies are the same thing. The studios can add women versions of a lot of their dormant and stale brands to get billions of incremental revenue at relatively low risk and effort compared to new ideas... All they need to do is control costs... It's easy money... Billions of it industry wide...

These are product remake movies anyway... Hard to get upset about this one...

Anyway, there are new female led movies... Annihilation and Red Sparrow being recent examples...

Distinguished Member

Anyway, there are new female led movies... Annihilation and Red Sparrow being recent examples...

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Annihilation is a brilliant example of a female led film. Intelligent, strong characters with agency; yet there's no agenda on the part of the filmmaker. Sails through the bechdel test and is a bloody good film in its own right. Proves you don't need to simply remake a film with a female cast and call it feminism.

Standard Member

Reviews suggest this is 'okay'. A quiet Saturday afternoon film rather than a cinema experience. To be fair it would have to be spectacularly bad to be worse than the last 'gender positive' film I watched (Ghostbusters - so bad in every way).

Active Member

I can't believe that people are this triggered about a female Oceans movie... It's just a spinoff...

There is a men version of Sex in the City, called Entourage... It's the same concept, but sex swapped...

I don't understand why people are being so precious about this when the Clooney Oceans movies were remakes of the Sinatra movies...

They were always meant to be light, night on the town type movies, with the thrill of crime and the opposite sex...

We should be more concerned that this current iteration seems to be de-sexed and has been neutered in terms of sensuality, flirting, sex and the relationship elements that were present in the earlier films... Is this correct?

Distinguished Member

I can't believe that people are this triggered about a female Oceans movie... It's just a spinoff...

There is a men version of Sex in the City, called Entourage... It's the same concept, but sex swapped...

I don't understand why people are being so precious about this when the Clooney Oceans movies were remakes of the Sinatra movies...

They were always meant to be light, night on the town type movies, with the thrill of crime and the opposite sex...

We should be more concerned that this current iteration seems to be de-sexed and has been neutered in terms of sensuality, flirting, sex and the relationship elements that were present in the earlier films... Is this correct?

Active Member

Here one woman film that was not a remake and truly awesome one of the best films I seen this year and shows what can be done with an original script rather than shoe horning women into previous men's roles. I would have given Jessica Chastain an Oscar for it.Miss Sloane (2016) - IMDb

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I kind of bristle when the business sets out to make a "woman film" as opposed to a film that has a great female role, or several. It's always a matter of opinion but I thought Emily Blunt absolutely superb in A Quiet Place and the same for Jennifer Lawrence in Red Sparrow: they both nailed it. My partner, who is a woman and identifies as one as well, loved both these films. To get her into Ocean's 8, and she is the target audience, would require a crowbar, explosives and a team of horses.

Active Member

It sounded like a rubbish idea to be honest. I understand the need for brand recognition but you really have to smash it out of the park to be compared favourably to Oceans Eleven. Putting out dross just sets everyone back.

Moderator

There a who list of films with female leads some based on read life some fictional.
Inn of the Sixth Happiness, Carve Her Name With Pride and the Alien, Salt and many more films.
The above I've seen at the pictures but would not venture out to see Oceans 8 although I don't go to the pictures much these days but if I did I wouldn't
Now Widows is a different kettle of fish based on the UK drama series.

And if there appearance on The Graham Norton Show a Friday was an advert to see it, for me was one not to see it.

Be brave, do female films with a female director, female scriptwriter etc.

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Alternatively, be even braver and just make good films that don't play off intersectionality, diversity, social justice and other of today's buzzwords that Hollywood now parrots to show how inclusively liberal it is. This just doesn't work, as the last Ghostbusters and the recent Star Wars films have shown.

Distinguished Member

Alternatively, be even braver and just make good films that don't play off intersectionality, diversity, social justice and other of today's buzzwords that Hollywood now parrots to show how inclusively liberal it is. This just doesn't work, as the last Ghostbusters and the recent Star Wars films have shown.

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Sorry but Star Wars is not an example of this. The issues (most sane people) have with The Last Jedi have nothing to do with the female characters in it. Daisy Ridley is terrific in the lead. Disney will back me up up with about 3 Billion dollars as well.

Active Member

Sorry but Star Wars is not an example of this. The issues (most sane people) have with The Last Jedi have nothing to do with the female characters in it. Daisy Ridley is terrific in the lead. Disney will back me up up with about 3 Billion dollars as well.

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The fans are certainly not happy with the way Kathleen Kennedy is taking the franchise and when the director of Solo starts talking about Lando being "pansexual"... I thought Daisy Ridley did well but how about the female technician? There was a time when Star Wars was about wonderful universes of fantasy and imagination for everybody, or doesn't Princess Leia, who could well hold her own against Han Solo till she saw sense or whatever page of the script it was, count anymore? Now it has become politically 'right on' and progressive / regressive. I'm as tired of the trope of young woman comes in to show all the boys what bumblers and dinosaurs they are as I am of the one where the woman 'helps' by getting into trouble, having to be rescued and screaming while the hero fights for his life! Ditch the sexual politics and let us have good, entertaining films with strong and credible characters.

I'm not sure where you get your $3 billion from, but an industry accepted figure for The Last Jedi is a lifetime gross of Worldwide: $1,332,539,889 (corrected from my earlier "pinch over $620 million").